Urban and regional planners should expect to face competition for positions. Job opportunities for planners often depend on government budgets and economic conditions. When municipalities and developers have funds for development projects, planners are in higher demand.

Architecture

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The median annual wage for urban and regional planners was $74,350 in May 2019. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $45,850, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $116,280.

In May 2019, the median annual wages for urban and regional planners in the top industries in which they worked were as follows:

Most urban and regional planners work full time during normal business hours, and some may work evenings or weekends to attend meetings with officials, planning commissions, and neighborhood groups. Some planners work more than 40 hours per week.

• Knowledge of urban spatial structure or physical design and the way in which cities work.
• Ability to analyze demographic information to discern trends in population, employment, and health.
• Knowledge of plan-making and project evaluation.
• Mastery of techniques for involving a wide range of people in making decisions.
• Understanding of local, state, and federal government programs and processes.
• Understanding of the social and environmental impact of planning decisions on communities.
• Ability to work with the public and articulate planning issues to a wide variety of audiences.
• Ability to function as a mediator or facilitator when community interests conflict.
• Understanding of the legal foundation for land use regulation.
• Understanding of the interaction among the economy, transportation, health and human services, and land-use regulation.
• Ability to solve problems using a balance of technical competence, creativity, and hardheaded pragmatism.
• Ability to envision alternatives to the physical and social environments in which we live.
• Mastery of geographic information systems (GIS) and office (presentation, spreadsheet, etc.) software.